"Our soldiers have come to rescue us, charge!" Xia Houyuan shouted, and the speed of the entire army increased again.

"This is Cao Cao! Come and save me quickly!" Cao Cao shouted in the distance.

"Liu Xuande is here!" Liu Bei kept shouting.

Guan Yu and Zhang Feiduo used the cloud energy of nearly a thousand soldiers to slash forward with a sharp sword light, instantly clearing a large amount of flames in front of them, and faintly saw the figures of a large number of soldiers outside the flames in the distance.

"My lord is here! Someone in front of you, come to the rescue quickly!" Zhang Fei shouted, the sound shook the world, and even the surrounding flames were faintly weakened. In this case, Zhang Fei's loud voice came to full use.

Hearing Zhang Fei's voice, the soldiers in the distance also started to move. Both sides advanced at the same time, and soon the flames in the middle were cleared, and they saw each other. After the two armies met, they quickly rushed out of the city.

...

Looking at Chang'an City in the endless fire in the distance, Cao Cao, whose body was covered with black marks from the fire, felt extremely desolate.

Cao Liu organized an army of more than 40,000, but only a few thousand broke out. Together with those who had been killed in the sea of ​​​​fire, about 50,000 soldiers perished here.

"Hahaha!"

"Hahaha!"

Cao Cao suddenly looked up to the sky and laughed louder and louder, full of regret, desolation and despair, and a hint of joy of surviving the disaster, which made people's hearts tremble.

"Zhong was careless this time. Zhong is willing to take the responsibility and please punish me, my lord!" behind Cao Cao, Xi Zhicai bowed with a gray complexion.

Hearing this, Cao Cao's laughter slowly stopped. After a moment of silence, he said emotionlessly: "Zhicai, this time it's not your fault, it's mine!"

"Why did my lord say this? This time it was all due to loyalty as a counselor who failed to detect the enemy's love. What was my lord's fault?"

"It was me, I misjudged Yuan Jiujiu!" Cao Cao laughed at himself: "I thought that the other party was just a timid and stupid person, but now that I think about it, I am the stupid one!"

Xi Zhicai's mouth turned bitter and he comforted: "My lord, please don't underestimate yourself. We have indeed underestimated Yuan Shu's courage. But this is just a small defeat. With Yuan Gongli's indecisiveness, even if he takes Xiliang, we still have a lot of chances."

There is a possibility of a big comeback. As long as we unify the Central Plains, we can at least rule across the river from Yuan Highway."

Cao Cao sighed softly: "Zhicai, you still underestimate Yuan Shu. Yuan Gongli may seem stupid, but in fact he hides it too deeply, which makes him ignore his threat. Perhaps in his eyes, it is not difficult to invade the Central Plains.

It's just that the risks and costs are higher, and he doesn't take me, Cao Mengde, into consideration at all."

Looking at his soldiers who suffered heavy casualties and low morale, Cao Cao sighed slightly: "I underestimated Yuan Jiujiu before, and I was too self-righteous. Now think about it, he has been hiding himself, just looking at some of the strength he showed.

It’s shocking!”

"Lord!" Xi Zhicai said worriedly.

"Haha, Zhicai, don't worry, I'm fine! On the contrary, I feel that my current condition is surprisingly good. Yuan Shu's strength may not be a bad thing for us. At least now, he has given me a good opportunity.

"Cao Cao said with bright eyes.

When Xi Zhicai saw Cao Cao's high-spirited look, he was startled for a moment, and then smiled happily.

Wen Ruo, you are indeed exhaustive and have far-reaching plans!

Xi Zhicai murmured in his heart.

At this time, nearly half of Cao Liu's 200,000 reinforcements had been lost, and Chang'an had been burned to the ground. It was completely impossible to intervene in Xiliang's affairs. Both sides had to go back home. Fortunately, he did not come in vain, and he still made money.

He won an emperor and Tongguan. On the contrary, Liu Bei really failed to draw water from a bamboo basket. All the officials fell into the sea of ​​fire. Chang'an Tongguan did not gain anything, and nearly half of the soldiers were killed. It was really miserable.

"My lord is indeed wise! Although our army was lost by nearly half this time, Liu Bei's losses were greater than ours. This is a great opportunity!" Xi Zhicai said.

The previous capture of Tongguan was entrusted to Cao Cao's army. Cao Cao stationed 20,000 troops and Xiahou Dun. Therefore, at this time, he still had nearly 60,000 troops, while Liu Bei only had 40,000.

"Master, are you planning to take action against Liu Bei?" Xi Zhicai whispered.

"No!" Cao Cao narrowed his eyes: "Although we have occupied Tongguan, it is still too reluctant to keep Liu Bei. Moreover, there is Yuan Jiujiu here. With our current situation, Liu Bei cannot move for the time being."

"Then my lord wants to touch Lu Fengxian?"

"Not bad!" Cao Cao said with a smile: "Although we can't touch Liu Bei for the sake of the overall situation, we can still isolate him outside Tongguan for a month or two. If he wants to take a detour back to Yuzhou, he will have to do it without passing through Tongguan.

It takes a lot of time. Such a long time is enough for us to do a lot of things in Qingzhou."

"Although Lu Fengxian's foundation in Qingzhou is still shallow and his strength is not strong, he still has more than 100,000 men under his command, especially the Bingzhou cavalry under his command. They are not inferior to those of Youzhou and Xiliang cavalry. They are very difficult to deal with. We want to fight

We have to use the power of thunder to capture it quickly, otherwise there may be an accident if we drag it on." Xi Zhicai said.

Although Cao Cao's defeat is bad news, the current situation is very good for him. Yuan Shu and Yuan Shao are both restrained by their respective wars and unable to take care of the affairs of the Central Plains. Liu Bei is in this situation again. There is a better opportunity than this.

? With all parties unable to take care of it, it was the best time to take action against Lu Bu.

Cao Cao glanced at Liu Bei's direction: "One step backwards, one step after another, now Liu Xuande should feel his own powerlessness! When he chose to retreat, the world has lost his chance of victory. God does not take what he wants, but he suffers instead.

The blame for this person is no longer a concern. It’s a pity that I still regarded him as a hero at the beginning, but I never thought that this descendant of the Han Dynasty was so unable to hold up the wall. Alas!"

"By the way, Zhicai, who is the young general who organized the army to rescue us?" Cao Cao asked curiously. He was in a hurry at the time, and Cao Cao, who was still shocked, praised him verbally without going into detail.

Cha. Now that I think about being able to organize a large army for rescue in such an emergency situation, it shows that this person's loyalty and courage must be a good general.

"This man's surname is Li Mingdian, and his courtesy name is Mancheng. He is from Juye County, Shanyang County. He is a low-key man in the army and does not compete with others for credit. He advocates learning and respects elegance. He is a Confucian general with both wisdom and bravery. The Lord should use him highly!"

Xi Zhicai said solemnly. If it weren't for an emergency, he would never have thought that there was such a good general hiding in the army.

"Oh? You think so of the talented person. It seems that this person really has extraordinary abilities!" Cao Cao said in surprise: "Promote him to a partial general. Let him be a vanguard and lead the army alone in this expedition to Lu Bu! I agree.

Let’s see what your vision is like Zhicai.”

"Lord, the army is almost rested. Let me lead the army back as soon as possible!" Xi Zhicai said after glancing at Liu Bei's army on the other side who was about to set off.

"Okay, let's get to Tongguan first." Cao Cao glanced at Liu Bei in the distance with a smile, and waved to Xia Houyuan: "Miaocai, you come to lead the troops, we must rush to Tongguan before Liu Bei!" (Unfinished)
Chapter completed!